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NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2020-3118: Cisco IOS XR Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Format String Vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 69/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Nov 3, 2021). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 11.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 96% of all records.
  • Someone on the same network segment can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol implementation for Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a reload on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of string input from certain fields in Cisco Discovery Protocol messages. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious Cisco Discovery Protocol packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a stack overflow, which could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges on an affected device. Cisco Discovery Protocol is a Layer 2 protocol. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be in the same broadcast domain as the affected device (Layer 2 adjacent).

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded
Published
Feb 5, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
11.6% · 96th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

69

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
4 / 30 · 11.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
8.8
CNA · cisco
8.8
agree

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Nov 3, 2021. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2020-3118

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
ciscoios xr
ciscoasr 9000v
ciscoasr 9001
ciscoasr 9006
ciscoasr 9010
ciscoasr 9901
ciscoasr 9904
ciscoasr 9906
ciscoasr 9910
ciscoasr 9912
ciscoasr 9922
cisconcs 540-12z20g-sys-a

and 25 more

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cisco ios xr6.6.0 and later · before 6.6.12
  • cisco ios xr7.0.0 and later · before 7.0.2
  • cisco ios xr5.2.5
  • cisco ios xr6.4.2
  • cisco ios xr6.5.3
  • cisco ios xr6.6.25
  • cisco ios xr7.0.1

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Cisco Cisco IOS XR Software

    • unspecified and later · before 6.6.3affected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2020-3569Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion VulnerabilitiesKEV
    65This week
  • CVE-2020-3566Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion VulnerabilityKEV
    65This week
  • CVE-2010-3035Cisco IOS XR 3.4.0 through 3.9.1, when BGP is enabled, does not properly handle unrecognized transitive attributes, which allows remote attaKEV
    62This week

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-16022Jan 26, 2020 · Cisco IOS XR Software BGP EVPN Denial of Service Vulnerabilities
    34Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-16027Jan 26, 2020 · Cisco IOS XR Software Intermediate System–to–Intermediate System Denial of Service Vulnerability
    26Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2020-3190Mar 4, 2020 · Cisco IOS XR Software IPsec Packet Processor Denial of Service Vulnerability
    23Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. CISA KEV+636 d
  3. TodayNov 6, 2026+2465 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone on the same network segment can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-134 · Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records